novelraw Chapter 225 : Question (3)
Chapter 225 : Question (3)
Chapter 225: Question (3)
There was more to the content.
Sanghyun calmly continued reading the contents. His heart was pounding, but he didn’t show it.
“To kill one, more than ten had to charge in, but in the end, it was the ten who died.”
Despite having numerical superiority, the memo was telling that their combat power had been overwhelmingly inferior.
Sanghyun once again meticulously engraved the memo’s content into his mind.
It felt like this was something he had to ask the Goddess of Luck—Lee Siyeon—about.
There was one thing Sanghyun firmly believed in, across both his past and current lives.
That was the belief that the Player System, which had turned the Earth into a “New World,” was unique to Earth.
To elaborate further, it meant that Earth was not connected to any other world.
The monsters that appeared in spaces represented by dungeons, gates, and rifts were entirely products of the system.
He had never once felt any sense of a different civilization from them, nor had he ever thought they shared the same fate.
But here, things were different.
There was more information than necessary for it to be merely a monster’s world.
It was also the first time he had seen such detailed records or storage facilities.
It felt excessive to assume that these had been created simply to enhance dungeon detail.
Had players truly never encountered a space like this in their past lives? Or had it existed and been deliberately concealed?
The thoughts continued to spiral endlessly.
At the same time, he wondered if encountering the Break Spot had led them to face an uncomfortable truth.
If left alone, the Amsa Station Rift might have occurred, and conversely, the Break Spot could have disappeared.
‘Let’s not try to judge it.’
Sanghyun simplified his increasingly tangled thoughts. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t draw any “correct answer.”
For now, he decided to accept things as they were and investigate further. The analysis and pondering would come afterward.
After that.
As they walked through the morgue, divided into several sections, Sanghyun’s party was able to confirm numerous corpses and memos.
All of the preserved corpses appeared to belong to alien beings.
Each memo recorded the time of their appearance, the number of victims sacrificed because of them, and the characteristics of the aliens.
Among the contents the three of them saw, two things stood out the most.
First, the Bashunat people—the ones who had ruled this world—had beings similar to players.
Second, the identity-unknown aliens had tormented them using methods far more advanced than any skill.
For example, simply pointing a finger lightly at a target would cause the person to explode and die.
If they were to compare it to a skill, it would be something like instant death or explosion—perhaps that would be accurate? The level of lethality was completely different.
Moreover, if someone made eye contact with the alien, their body would immediately stiffen.
If it were to be classified as an abnormal status, it would be stiffness. It must have looked similar to someone turning to stone after seeing Medusa.
‘I used to hear rumors about this in my past life. Player groups being wiped out for no apparent reason or going missing.’
Looking back, there hadn’t been a complete absence of suspicious circumstances.
There had been incidents where the World Player Union stepped in directly to investigate and wrap things up.
Each one was neatly packaged with plausible reasons, but it was also true that they sparked numerous conspiracy theories.
If enemies resembling aliens were encountered within rifts or Break Spots, the reasons for annihilation could be explained.
“……I’m feeling an indescribable fear. I’ve never felt anything like this in my life.”
Shin Taeri, who had been standing beside them, was now trembling slightly at her fingertips.
It was from the fear and dread instilled in her as she read the countless memos found here.
Sanghyun and Jo Jinho were doing their best to look composed, but in truth, they were not fine at all.
“Let’s look at it this way. If we had found out about this later, it might have been more of a shock.
A worse situation could’ve developed than what we’re facing now.”
Jo Jinho patted Shin Taeri’s shoulder. Sanghyun’s thoughts were the same as Jo Jinho’s.
“I believe that ignorance is the worst case. So for now, the most important thing is that we know about this.”
With that resolution in mind, it now seemed more important to actively collect information.
Moreover, since they had entered the Break Spot to prevent a rift from occurring, they needed to proceed with the strategy.
To stabilize the interior, they would typically have to destroy either the boss monster or the power source within the Break Spot.
They still had no sense of how to complete the strategy here. It was truly unknown territory.
Two hours passed.
Despite feeling as if they had traversed the entire city, not once did they come into contact with a living being.
If a being capable of communicating in the Bashunat language were to appear, it would likely be a native.
And from a native, they could hear many clues and stories.
But not a single one could be seen.
What greeted Sanghyun’s group from various locations were nothing but corpses turning to white bone with the passage of time.
It might sound odd to say, but the dead people had all died “neatly.”
With only small wounds to their chest or head, they had taken their last breath.
Most likely, they were attacked only in vital spots that could lead to instant death.
To explore more territory, Sanghyun, Jo Jinho, and Shin Taeri moved one block apart from each other.
‘Why haven’t they said anything?’
Sanghyun found it odd that the Constellations and Thrones had remained silent since entering this place.
This was a dungeon that had even a usually unshakable Sanghyun walking around with a gravely serious expression.
If that was the case, at least a few of the more meddlesome Constellations or even the God of Storms might have spoken up.
But it was as if someone had pressed a mute button—there wasn’t even a short line or a welcome message.
He didn’t know whether it was an intentional silence or if there was some external force or condition forcing them to be silent.
Regarding this part, Sanghyun decided to tread carefully. There had to be a reason for the silence.
After hours of quietly exploring this desolate city—
When nearly three hours had passed,
Sanghyun spotted a “lifeform” about three blocks north of where he was standing.
“No way.”
He couldn’t see it clearly, but the silhouette alone told him who it was.
It was the very alien figure he had seen every time they opened a storage container in the morgue.
He thought of calling Shin Taeri and Jo Jinho, but held his tongue.
If they hurried over in panic, they might suffer a surprise attack.
Tak. Tak.
Srrrk.
Unlike Sanghyun, who was approaching the alien step by step—
The alien glided smoothly over the asphalt road.
Sanghyun never let his guard down. That alien was the one who had killed the Bashunat people.
He didn’t know why it didn’t attack immediately upon seeing him, But that didn’t mean it was a sign of peace.
As the distance between them narrowed to about one block—
The alien stopped.
Sanghyun stopped too.
He deliberately avoided looking at the alien’s eyes, aiming his gaze just below them. Around the philtrum area.
The more he tried not to look, the stronger the urge to look became, but he held himself back. Their eyes were weapons.
And then—
“Nezrat. Nugrat.”
“…….”
He couldn’t interpret the content, But it was similar to the language used by the trio of monsters he had just sent to the afterlife.
They emphasized the last syllable as they spoke. Even if the tone was different, the structure was the same.
“Hoo.”
Sanghyun adjusted his grip on the Nameless Sword.
Judging by the alien’s twisted expression, it didn’t seem like the words were anything good.
“Gusorzrat!”
The next moment—
A red glow burst from the alien’s two eyes, fiercely stimulating a part of Sanghyun’s mind.
At that moment, he could feel it. The creature was attempting mental control.
So—
『Pure Soul』
■ Skill Level: Stage 2 (11.2%)
■ Skill Description: (…omitted…)
Grants variable resistance to mental attacks, from a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 50%, in addition to existing resistance.
However, to achieve maximum resistance, activate the “Pure White” option, which consumes 10 mana per second.
He immediately activated the “Pure White” option on the Pure Soul skill, which he hadn’t used in a while.
By doing so, he gained a mechanism capable of completely blocking any mental attack.
Sure enough—
Sanghyun forced out the uncomfortable stimulation in his mind and immediately went on the offensive.
“Ahnat?”
The alien panicked.
But apparently that wasn’t its only move. This time, it attempted control again, breaking through the Pure White option.
‘This one’s dangerous.’
The fact that it could break through a 100% defense structure meant it was using a higher-order form of control.
A concept superior to 100% defense— You could call it Complete Mental Control.
But Sanghyun didn’t panic. At the very onset of the control attempt, he activated the Rapid Purification skill.
It had a long cooldown, but was extremely useful, as it could cleanse any negative condition.
“……!”
When Sanghyun blocked it a second time, the alien’s expression twisted drastically.
It was an unprecedented occurrence.
A lowly creature that should’ve been neutralized in a single attempt had now resisted twice?
So—
It once again gathered strength and attempted mental domination over Sanghyun.
This time, it was the strongest tier—an overwhelming amount of mental power was used.
Control that no one had ever withstood.
In about three seconds, this human should have become a faithful servant, obedient to every command. That’s how it should have gone, but…
“What are you doing, you bastard!”
“Kruat!”
Not only did the mental control fail, But the alien was caught up in Sanghyun’s Death Touch skill.
He had used 500 mana to activate full summoning, so the alien was helplessly dragged toward Sanghyun.
The alien didn’t know—
But Sanghyun had just used Skill Reset and then activated Rapid Purification again. He had responded on the fly.
‘It wouldn’t have seen this coming.’
This was the trump card Sanghyun had prepared.
Skill Reset was a precious ability he could only use once per day, But in a situation like this, it was the best move.
“Uwaaah!”
Dragged toward Sanghyun in an instant, The alien was turned into a bloody mess by the barrage of follow-up attacks.
It tried raising its right hand to trigger an instant death or explosion attack, But it was pointless.
Slash!
The first thing Sanghyun had severed was both of the alien’s hands.
The cleanly cut hands flew through the air, And the alien could only look in shock at its own severed limbs.
Then—
“Die, you bastard!”
Without hesitation, Sanghyun used the Sword of Destruction to cleave off the alien’s head.
It had been wearing a special helmet, But that helmet wasn’t strong enough to withstand the Sword of Destruction.
Psssssssh!
The head fell, its master lost. The alien’s life ended with a full stop.
At that moment—
“……New World?”
Along with the alien’s death, A new buff was applied to Sanghyun.
A buff with the strange name: “New World.” What kind of ability was this?
Sanghyun’s gaze naturally moved to the description at the bottom.